‘Falling Skies’ Season 3: Why Did Showrunner Remi Aubuchon Leave?

While most accounts rank TNT's 'Falling Skies' season 3 premiere as on par, if not an improvement for the series, we learned weeks earlier that showrunner Remi Aubuchon would depart by the end of this latest cycle, the second departure in the show's history. 'Battlestar Galactica' vet David Eick has been tasked to fill in, but what caused Aubuchon's exit in the first place?

Recent years have seen a number of surprising showrunner dramas behind our favorite series, from 'The Walking Dead''s continued turmoil to Dan Harmon's miraculous 'Community' return, but what could have caused former 'Falling Skies' head Remi Aubuchon to depart the series in advance of an expected season 4 pickup?

Collider recently had a chance to speak to Aubuchon, who surprisingly revealed that his decision to leave and ultimately be replaced by David Eick had little to do with any behind-the-scenes drama, but rather his own ambitions:

It was excruciating. I’m not getting any younger, and I’ve had this life-long dream of wanting to write science-fiction novels. The unfortunate thing that I figured out is that, when you’re a showrunner, that’s all you can do. I just felt like, if I was going to do that, now was the time. I have a strong affection for the people I worked with and for the show itself. Maybe if I were 20 years younger, I wouldn’t care and I would just keep going, but I really feel I need to pursue this road. It was all with good thoughts.

Aubuchon added that he had made the staff aware of his tenuous acceptance of the job from the beginning, and a particularly grueling season convinced him to finally make the leap. Meanwhile, TNT has yet to issue a formal renewal for 'Falling Skies' season 4, though the writing staff usually begins advance work in anticipation of a likely pickup.

What say you? Are you interested to see if 'Falling Skies' feels any different under new showrunner David Eick? How did you like the premiere? Watch a preview for next Sunday's "Badlands" below, and give us your thoughts in the comments!